Discussion “Rebooting” IT career...

[spidafly]

Hi everyone.

I graduated with a 4-year CS degree in 2004, worked as a software dev for 5 years, suffered burnout and a layoff. I’ve worked mostly odd jobs and grey-collar work since, which worked because I was married, needed the flexibility, and supplementary income was sufficient. I made a lot of sacrifices for my wife’s career, including a long distance move, putting off my own educational improvement because of stability etc. Now she’s divorcing me after 18 (11 married) years. The settlement isn’t looking very equitable and I can’t afford a lawyer.

For future improvement, I’m looking to revitalize my career in IT. I haven’t touched a compiler since 2009, but I have been building my own PC’s and such. My four-year degree has left me with boilerplate knowledge for procedural thinking but it is no longer enough to get me hired in IT. For example, I’m out of date on my nix knowledge, I don’t know Active Directory, very rusty on modern network engineering/security fundamentals, lack modern Windows/nix network principles. As I mentioned I have not touched a compiler since 2009 so I’m rusty on my Java, C++, and all other languages. As far as entry level stuff goes I don’t have experience in HelpDesk or VOIP setup (though I can’t imagine the last two would be hard to fake until I make - still the challenge right now is even getting hired!)

Right now one of the options I’m looking at is going back to a community college and getting a 2-year CIS degree. This is where I’m asking for advice. From what I hear, an A+ and Net+ cert is a good place to start, but I’m looking for solid network knowledge and skills... anything that can get me hired for between $35k-40k USD per year. Right now I have ~40 job apps in IT, including entry level, and I’ve come up with nothing (and that’s understandable, I’m an unknown!) I have to be out of the ex’s house in two months and frankly I’m scared. I’d like to at least have an idea of my trajectory before I move.

So that’s where I’m at. Any advice appreciated. Absolutely any ideas appreciated on how a 38-yo rusty CS major can revitalize his skills and aim upward in a IT career.

Thanks!

 

[Math Geek]

i'm taking IT classes right now myself at 45 years old. i'm at my local community college as well. A+ and net+ are good starting point for admin side work. A+ should be easy to get if you've been working on pc's all this time. i passed it first try and have not even finished the hardware class yet. was rather easy for a long term pc tech guy. lots of windows based tools and troublshooting and basic hardware troubleshooting.

net+ i have not taken yet though i did take the class for it already. i plan on going for the security+ as well after a couple security classes next semester. i'd expect that if you can get your A+ soon, you should be good for a basic job. i've already turned down $15 an hour multiple times here since i got the A+. your instructors usually have contacts they'll share as you get the certs to help you.

once you are working with the A+, then you can work toward the other certs you want/need. i am also working on the Cisco infrastructure side of it and am taking the first half of CCNA now as well.

if you work at it, a handful of classes and a couple certs should get you started and then as you add certs over time, you can move into a better job for your interests.

in the past i kept losing jobs to people with little knowledge due to not having the certs claiming "i know something". now of course since i am working on the certs, recruiters love to tell me how much more knowledge means than the certs. overall, it seems like a game you can't win but having the A+ at least got me some entry level options i could not get before. i plan on taking the net+ in the next month or so before i forget all the minute details.

good luck.

 

[JeckeL]

Taking a ~10 year hiatus will be a bit of a head-scratcher/red flag to employers, but with a background and knowledge like yours (plus the want, or I guess NEED to work), a company would be insane not to hire you. The problem is "getting past the gatekeeper" so to speak. If you could speak directly to the recruiters, and basically give them an abridged version of what you posted here they would say "Wow this person seems very capable and sharp", but on paper I guess it doesn't look spectacular (the little work experience and it being so long ago, the 10 year break, etc).

The thing about some of the areas you mentioned that you're unfamiliar with or outdated on (nix, active directory, etc) is that once you have a solid computer science base and experience with unix, windows servers/workstations, etc, you can pretty much research/google your way through unknown areas, so the main thing for employers is that you have a broad, solid understanding of IT, and from there anything is possible. No one finishes college with the ability to do EVERYthing they'll need to do let alone the ability to do 5% of the majority of what they'll end up doing at a job, starting a job is when the real learning begins. For example if you know what nix is mainly used for and why, how to set up users/groups/etc, make directories, etc, and someone came to you and said "See about getting samba installed on this redhat 7 server such that we can access files on it from windows machines" can you do it? Sure you can, google "install samba rhel 7" and before you know it you're connecting to samba shares and doing.... samba stuff..........

If it was me I would tell a tiny white lie, which I don't know your situation extremely well, so it may not be a lie at all. Put somewhere on your applications something like "After the layoff, while looking for work elsewhere I began taking on side jobs "fixing computers" of all kinds and made VERY good money so I never really kept looking for work proper, I always had my hands full doing that, but now I want a 9-5 job again" (also for benefits, insurance, etc)

 

[Ralston18]

No. Do not "If it was me I would tell a tiny white lie".

Facts and verifiable facts only. The 10 year "break" may indeed raise flags and questions. But burnout is much more recognized and understood. Many people change careers just because of that alone. Having multiple jobs/careers no longer, in my mind anyway, has the same stigma as in years gone by...

Certifications are a plus of sorts but employers know all too well that there are "paper mill diplomas" so to speak that can be obtained without really learning anything.

IT has moved away from the unwashed geek in the basement as is still commonly portrayed.

Higher skill sets are needed: being able to think logically, communicate verbally, and in writing.

Overall, you already have those abilities as I read your post.

Key is convincing the right person that you can do the job and then some...

That you can work with technical types and non-technical types at all levels. Be a team player, stepping up when needed, and not being too much of a hassle for your manager and co-workers.

Leverage your past skills as software developer. Look into and learn Powershell and Python.

Get your hands on a few computers (old, new), a router, a NAS, and whatever else you can and build a home network to work on, experiment with, and overall learn from.

Go online and read User Guides, Manuals, tutorials (lots of very good ones here at Tom's) etc.

Read product reviews, spec sheets, white papers - all will help you get up to speed.

Continue looking for IT employment ads: get a deeper sense of the skills and skill levels being sought. Some ads are very specialized, others very broad just, if anything, to give the potential employer more flexibility in selecting the candidate based on some trade-off criteria.

Recommended reading:

https://www.amazon.com/Cybersecurity-Leadership-Powering-Modern-Organization/dp/1502312115

Note: Some of the author's works can be found online.

And be sure to avail yourself of any job assistance organizations/offices at the college. Lots to be said for practice interviews, resume reviews, do's and don'ts.

 

[spidafly]

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I posted here. I've spent the last 2 months moving and getting the divorce settled etc. I feel like life has punched me in the gut.

For the last week or so I've taken a different tack on this. I mentioned that I was in software for 4-5 years, my formal degree being in Computer Science. I realized - hey, the fundamentals (OOP, data structures, etc.) are still there. I have hands-on experience with C, C++, Java, PHP, quite a bit of mathematics. I've managed to muck through Perl, BASH, SQL in the past. So... learning new languages shouldn't be a big deal, right? I'm going to make a heck of a lot more money if I could go back into software and I have the fundamentals.

So I sat down this week and started learning JavaScript. My logic being: JS gives me a path into front end and back end development, pathways into React and Node. I know that's a lot of stuff to learn, but like I said - the fundamentals are there, all I have to do is learn new frameworks, APIs, and syntax.

So like I said... I'm taking a different tack. Can I get some more advice? The biggest problem I'm going to have is having worked in software for 5 years, then dropping out of the field for 10 years, and wanting to come back. On the other hand, maybe somebody will take a chance on me, I can work my butt off, and claw my way onward and upward. (Too bad I'm almost 38... that's going to be a huge problem.)

Anyway. Any other tidbits of wisdom? Recommended books? Upcoming technologies I should be paying attention to? Great websites to learn from? (Note I've been spending time on W3schools. I've spent a little time wit Codeacademy... it's OK for getting a taste for the basics of stuff like CSS and JS, but honestly it's not impressive.)

Basically, I have about a year where I am living with some friends rent-free. I can work odd jobs part time because I've got settlement money as a safety net. I need to use the heck out of this year and put myself back on the right track.

All advice appreciated!

Thanks!

PS. I'm not nearly as "burnt out" on software dev as I thought I was. Learning JS, CSS has been exciting for me - given my experience I know that's not "software dev" proper... I know I know... but the fact that I have fundamental knowledge is making it so much easier. (Also in ways more of a PITA because JS is such a weakly typed language it makes me itch... but I digress.) My point is... I'm enjoying the intellectual part of snapping up a new language and quickly putting the knowledge toward a practice application, and I'm looking forward to jumping into React and Node. It's hard to be optimistic given where my life is at right now... but I might be optimistic about THIS. So that's a start.